"This large dog is a knight in disguise"
Reviewed by Clare O'Beara
Posted December 28, 2013
Romance Paranormal
A St. Bernard dog, large, lost and hungry, is taken home
from a park in Chicago by Regina who owns a dog beauty
salon. She baths the gentle dog and combs out his tangled
coat. Little does Regina know that she's actually taking
care of a man who has spent nine hundred years in canine
form after being cursed by a witch called Maeve. By now
he's thoroughly fed up.
ONE HOT KNIGHT lies in store for Regina, because the dog
leads her to woods where he digs up an old jewelled collar
which she puts around his neck - and the dog morphs into a
tall, naked man speaking an older form of English. Sir
Yves Sucat, Crusader, has waited so long to find the right
woman to break the curse. However, the curse isn't lifted
permanently; he must keep wearing the collar or be
transformed back into a dog. Once Regina gets over the
shock, she agrees to find Yves some clothes - but that's
all! Somehow she later finds herself agreeing to let the
man stay in her flat, just until he's worked out how to
break the curse. After all, she'd been willing to adopt a
large dog. How much more trouble could Yves be?
This fun tale hits all the right notes with Yves calling
Regina a wench, and still using canine mannerisms sometimes
out of long habit. Yves would like to make love with
Regina, but she thinks that would be too weird, and
besides, she's very fussy about her men, thank you.
Although she does admire that body! Yves tells her about
his past life, and how his family assumed he had died in a
Saracen prison. As she gets to know him better, Regina
begins to reconsider her options. But first there's the
matter of the curse... and the witch Maeve has followed
Yves through time.
This easy-reading tale is at times very funny and other
times dramatic, so fans of adult romance who also enjoy
paranormal tales should pick it up and see for themselves.
Author Christy Gissendaner who lives in Alabama, claims
that laughter and love should go hand in hand. Who could
resist ONE HOT KNIGHT with that kind of attitude?
SUMMARY
Stupid curse! Yves Sucat was a Crusader trapped in a canine body…until a
beautiful twenty-first century dog groomer offered the
missing link to break his spell. But Regina Patterson was no
fluffy-headed female who would instantly melt at Yves'
silvery seduction. The more time he spent with the tender-
hearted blonde, the less he was able to keep his paws—hands!
—off of her. Regina was much more comfortable with dogs than men, and the
stunningly handsome – stunningly male – knight who now
shared her apartment was no exception. She’d hoped to find a
man as loyal as the pooches she pampered day after day, but
would Yves’s broken curse end with her own broken heart?
Excerpt“A collar? Is that what you dragged me out here for?”
The dog placed a muddy paw on her thigh and lifted the
collar for her inspection. She touched one end of the strap
and bent close to study the brightly colored stones. “These
look real.”
But they couldn’t be. If the jewels were real, the collar
would be worth a fortune. There were diamond, sapphire, and
ruby look-alikes. She was no jewel connoisseur, but surely
the collar had to be fake. “Is it yours?”
“Woof!” The bark was mumbled since he still had the
collar
locked between his teeth.
“It’s gorgeous. Did your owners give it to you? Let me
see
it.”
Maybe it had a name or phone number, some way to identify
him.
Sunlight reflected off the jewels in a thousand tiny
sparkles. If she didn’t know better, she would swear it was
real. She glanced around nervously. Was she being punked?
Was this one of those televised experiments to see how
honest she was?
An unusual chill lifted the hairs at her nape. She looked
again. There was nothing but trees around her. Birds
chirping and the dog panting were the only sounds she heard.
She studied the collar again. It was much older than the dog
appeared.
It could possibly belong to him since it was large enough
to
fit around his neck. She turned it over in her hands, but
didn’t see his identification listed anywhere on it. Just a
strap of leather with sparkly jewels.
The dog whined and bumped his head against her. Shaking
off
her concerns, she bent down beside him. He’d known where it
was buried. Possession was nine-tenths of the law, after
all.
“You want it?” Regina wrapped it around his neck and over
the plain one she’d bought him. The jeweled collar was
beautiful and all, but at least the utilitarian one she’d
put on him had her cell number listed.
When it was buckled, she stepped back to study how it
looked. “It’s a bit girlish, actually. Are you sure you want
to wear it?”
She moved to take it off, but the dog gave a warning
growl
and backed away from her. The noise lacked venom, but it was
stern enough to let her know he definitely wanted to keep
the collar.
“All right, I won’t take it off. But now that you got
what
you came for, can we go?”
One minute, she was reaching for his leash, the next she
was
flat on her ass, knocked aside by an unexplainable force.
Dirt and leaves swirled around her, making it difficult to
breathe and impossible to see.
The maelstrom stung her eyes and made her blink as she
waited for it to settle. When it finally did, she got the
surprise of her life.
In front of her stood a very tall, very large, very naked
man with two dog collars encircling his neck.
She let out a scream, scrambling backward on her elbows.
Who
in the hell was this guy, and how had he just appeared
before her like genie poofing out of a lamp? Had her lunch
been tainted? She had to be imagining this. Were
hallucinations a sign of food poisoning?
The man approached her, holding out a hand as if he
wanted
to help her up. Fear made her ignore the offer. Despite the
fright, she studied the nude stranger before her.
Shoulder-length black hair framed a strongly chiseled face.
Dark brows slashed over equally dark eyes. His nose was
straight. A firm jawline hinted at his powerful strength.
His legs and arms were corded with thick muscle. A lightly
furred chest appeared as if it had been carved from marble.
He personified the male model of every romance cover she’d
ever seen.
And dear God, she’d seen a lot of them.
Ignoring the rush of unbidden attraction, Regina focused
instead on the scare she’d just received. She climbed to her
knees, but the position put her eyes on the level of his
crotch. Jerking her gaze away from his impressive package,
she hastily got to her feet.
What the hell just happened? She threaded her fingers
through her hair and struggled to get a grip. Surely her
eyes were playing tricks on her. No way had she just
witnessed a dog turn into a man…a very desirable man at
that. Running away was her first inclination, but she
refused to do that without her dog.
“Who are you?” She glanced around in confusion. “What
have
you done with my dog?”
“Your dog?” The man’s chuckle was deep. His accent was
foreign, almost guttural, but he spoke English with ease.
“Forgive me, but I belong to no woman.”
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